Apart from the adjustment function, the slides attach the seat to the floor of the vehicle and therefore must be sufficiently strong to prevent the seat separating from the floor especially in the case of a collision.
Several types of slides are already well known. Generally speaking, slide systems consist of a female element and a male element, one being attached to the floor and the other to the structure of the seat. Also, they include operating components and locking components. Adjustment of position is normally done manually but can also be motorized.
Known slides are thus constituted by the assembly of two sections sliding one inside the other, this sliding movement being facilitated for instance by using ball bearings placed between the two sections. In particular, slide systems are known where the female section is U-shaped and where the flanges include a return towards the inside, the male section also being generally U-shaped, open on the female section side over its complete length and including flanges which are inserted under the flange returns of the female section.
Therefore, the sections require complex shapes to stop them from coming apart when subjected to a tearing force applied to the seat. Indeed, under such a vertical force, the flanges of the female section have a tendency to move apart and those of the male section to move towards each other hence the risk of the male section coming out of the female section and the seat detaching from the vehicle.
To avoid the flanges of the male section from moving towards each other, it is already known, for example by document FR-A-2250400, to reinforce this section by spacers placed between the flanges of the male section and spaced over the length of the section.
We also know, by document FR-A-2728203, of a slide where the female section includes at least one spacing element which is inserted between the sides constituting the flanges of the male section U to prevent them from moving towards each other. On this slide, the spacing element, which is also used to attach the female section to the floor of the vehicle, is fixed, whereas the male section, attached to the frame of the seat, can slide. The flanges of the male section fit around the spacing element irrespective of the slide adjustment position and therefore cannot move towards each other.